ANCIENT SWORD FALLING: BOOK EIGHT
CHAPTER ONE
Luke’s heart raced as the private jet took off from the small Parisian airport. The last time he’d attempted to board a private jet offered by a European packleader, he’d been tranquilized and kidnapped as he watched his friends fly away, helpless to aid him.
Gripping the armrests, he thought he might rip them from the seat. Roxi did her best to soothe him as his foot tapped nervously on the airplane’s floor. He appreciated Roxi’s efforts. Though the only thing that worked was gravity pushing him back in his seat as the plane’s wheels left the ground. The jet climbing, he took his first deep breath. And once the relief settled in, he felt hollowed out.
He did his best to push the tension away once they leveled out and were safely away from the airport, though he never could break entirely free from it. Next to him, Roxi slept, alternating between resting against the inner wall of the private jet and snuggling up on his shoulder. When she leaned on him, he turned his head and kissed the top of hers, her wild hair tickling his nose. She hadn’t had a professional haircut in a long time, according to her, but even when freshly styled, it still liked to fly away. The other bonus of her proximity was her scent. It tantalized and calmed him all at once.
He’d spent months bringing down the three packleaders who’d betrayed him, exacting bloody vengeance and utterly destroying them. But saving Roxi and reversing Mithras’s compulsion ultimately was the most important to him.
If the choice had been Roxi or vengeance, he’d have forsaken his own revenge for her life. Fortunately, he didn’t have to do either. Mathis had been taken down then cast out to try to survive; no doubt there were multiple bounties on his head from all those he’d betrayed in his hunt for power and wealth. Without his money and connections, he was useless to his vampire overlords. In fact, he was a loose end for them to tie up. Permanently.
Heinrich Netzke, Cologne’s former alpha, had been turned over to his pack for trial and justice. Luke didn’t bother asking what that meant in the scheme of things. It wasn’t his business. Heidi, the new packleader, could manage her own affairs.
His only regret was that he hadn’t been able to bring justice to Jan, the man who’d murdered his own father to gain control of the wealthy Flanders Pack, their control of Belgium and the south of the Netherlands, and the mighty ports in Antwerp and Rotterdam. Luke had helped orchestrate his fall, removing his wealth and leadership of the Pack, but he’d slipped through their fingers and escaped the justice everyone wanted to bring to the patricidal fuckhead.
Luke felt for Pieter, who’d have to wait a bit longer before he could avenge his murdered father. Sometimes Pieter was hard to read. Mostly, he looked weary. Luke would have to get some private time with his Belgian friend for a heart-to-heart when they were both settled after their travels.
With a stop in New York City to refuel, they still had a long day before they landed back home in Portland. Luke couldn’t wait to see his girlfriend Maggie—she’d been one of the first to depart after their conference in Paris—and his adopted child Gwen and bestow some well-earned scritches on his cat Alfred.
His life before becoming involved with the North Portland Pack had been a lonely and tedious life with only his cat Alfred to keep him company. At first, he’d feared involving Pablo and Delilah in vampire hunting, but if he’d not given in, he’d probably have been dead multiple times over by now. He’d been reluctant at first, but they’d become so much more than allies of convenience.
He turned in his seat and smiled at Pablo and Delilah. Pablo grinned and winked at him. Delilah nodded, the corners of her lips quirking up. They were family. And knowing them had helped him grow his family further.
He would never have met Maggie. And even though the circumstances of their meeting were dark, he’d never have met Roxi. She’d have died alone in that prison under the arena or in one of their arenas fighting to entertain the soulless bloodsucking monsters.
So many lives intersecting with his would have been irrevocably altered had he not taken the chance and made two new friends. Now, he loved and was loved. He had a girlfriend and, though they hadn’t discussed official terms, another budding relationship. He had friends, and he had a young teen he needed to guide to adulthood. He also had a weird dog whose presence locked in one of the high security cells of the arena was still a mystery.
When they hit a patch of rough air, Roxi startled awake, her eyes wide. Her unfocused gaze flicked about as she clung tightly to Luke’s hand. When her breathing calmed, she looked a bit sheepish.
“Sorry. I didn’t know where I was. I sometimes wake up and think I’m still in that cell under the arena,” she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear it.
“That’s OK, Roxi. I still struggle with the memory of the arena, too. I haven’t had enough time to really unpack it with my therapist, not with the full half year we’ve had since getting out. It’s a lot.” Resting his hand on her cheek, he turned her head and kissed her.
“I’m glad I can wake up next to you, even if it’s on this rinky-dink plane. It feels more secure to be near you. For so long, you were the only bright light. Now I have more to look forward to than seeing your face through a hole in the stone.”
Luke chuckled. “Yeah. It’s a bit of an adjustment not being in that cell, but the last few weeks with you have been wonderful. It’s weird to say, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
“Yeah. It’s the one good thing I can say about the arena—it brought me you.” Roxi kissed his cheek.
“It might be more than just one positive. In all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never had a target to aim for. I’ve killed powerful elite vampires by the legion, but I’ve never had a true target to aim my gladius at. We’ve brought down some powerful associates of the vampires and spoked the wheel of their plans in Western Europe. We’ve got a whole bunch of financial intelligence we’ll need to sort through, but I think we have a real chance of doing something meaningful and potentially permanently disabling to the vampires.” Luke could feel his excitement building at the thought of maybe being able to end it all.
Roxi looked scared and hopeful all at once. “Do…do you really think that’s possible? To, you know, end it? For real?”
“I hope so, and for once, that hope might actually have some evidence to back and bolster it.” He squeezed Roxi’s hand.
“I truly hope you’re right, Luke. There is nothing more I long for, well, other than being in your arms, but ending vampires would be a close second.”
Luke chuckled at the sweet grin on her face. “Roxi, I love you.”
She patted Luke on the cheek. “I know. Now let me out. I need to visit the loo.”
He moved out and let her into the narrow walkway, then sat back down. He didn’t want to let himself fantasize about a world without vampires, so he forced his brain to lean into the other fantasies he had—home and friends and loved ones. He was still amazed at how domestic his desires had become. Spending time with Gwen talking music or teaching her to fight. Goofing with his friends down at the pub as they shared beers. Kissing a beautiful woman he adored. Sleeping late and being woken by an insistent cat. These had become the goalposts for a good life for him, the things he truly wanted.
Sam squeezed his shoulder, interrupting his wool gathering. “Scoot.”
He slid over into Roxi’s seat, letting Sam take his spot. “What can I do for you, Sam?”
“Nothing specific. Just wanted to check in with you to see how you’re doing. You seemed pretty tense this morning.”
“Yeah. I was having some real trouble keeping calm until we got off the ground. I almost had a panic attack. About the only thing that staved it off was Roxi’s presence. I was terrified something bad would happen.”
Sam squeezed his forearm. “I bet. That was terrible last time. I don’t know if anyone told you about the flight back after they saw what happened, but it was a very unhappy crowd of people. A lot of anger and tears. I honestly had some concerns as well, even with an official alliance with Jean-Paul.”
Luke nodded. “I’ll have to apologize to him if I seemed weird and unappreciative. I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“Yeah. He seems like a genuinely good man. I’m glad to have met him. He’ll make a good ally.”
“Plus, he has connections we don’t and can get us in contact with other key packs in Europe. Hopefully he can bring them into the cause, or if nothing else, at least assure their neutrality. We can’t afford to be fighting big, rich packs and vampires. He’s working on a side project for me.”
“Oh?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
Luke grinned mischievously. “Just a little surprise in case we need some bigger firepower. The vampires seem to be upping the ante on us.”
“You’re not wrong there.” Sam shook her head before smiling. “We can talk politics later. How are you and Roxi doing?”
Luke nodded and grinned. “We’re doing well, I think. We’re talking about a future together.”
Sam chuckled. “Do you remember the first time we flew to Europe together? When we flew to Belgium?”
“Yeah…” Luke squinted his eyes at Sam, unsure where she was going with the conversation.
“Remember when I asked if you were going to look for someone to date besides Maggie, since you had the option as a person in a poly relationship?” Sam grinned mischievously, her eyes twinkling with mirth.
“Yeah. I do remember that now that you mention it.”
“Well, it seems you are ready for a second relationship.”
Luke chuckled. “I guess so.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“Good but confused. A little anxious.” Luke laughed at himself. “I’ve used ‘confused’ to describe myself so many times since meeting you all and having Gwen move in, then dating Maggie. Seems like the perpetual state of being with my personal life.”
Sam smiled brightly. “It’s good, though, right?”
“Yeah. It is. I’m having positive thoughts about the future, and all my fantasies are terribly domestic and simple.”
“Luke Irontree, I think you’re becoming a real boy!”
“Ha! I’m still a puppet. Haven’t managed to cut those divine strings yet. But I can handle feeling more real, more attached to a life of meaning beyond the end of my sword.”
“It’s a powerful incentive to have meaningful things to fight for, to protect. I know you’ve been working your whole life to protect humanity, but billions of people are abstract. Maggie and Roxi and Gwen, those are all very tangible and real entities.”
“And you, Delilah, and Pablo, and the rest of the crew. But you’re right. I feel more integrated into humanity instead of just being an outside observer. I would have never thought it was possible to get to this place, not as old and outside of humanity as I’ve been, but here I am.”
Sam nodded. “Here you are. I’m so proud of you, Luke. I don’t mean this to sound condescending, but you’ve come such a long way since that first time we met. You were such a sad, lonely person. As much as you tried to pretend to be ‘normal,’ you couldn’t hide the pain in your eyes.”
Luke sighed and shook his head. “Sometimes I feel like a stray puppy Pablo brought home.”
Sam chuckled, patting Luke’s knee. “Yeah, he kind of adopted you, but I’m glad he did. You’re a wonderful friend and a good man. My life is better for having met you.”
“I feel the same about you, too.” He leaned over and kissed Sam’s forehead.
“So, got any big—”
Sam’s question was interrupted by one of the pilots activating the intercom. “Sorry to disturb you, folks. But we’re getting some troubling news coming in. We don’t have much information yet, but it looks like a plane just crashed near JFK in New York. We’re being diverted to an airfield in Maine. I’ll let you know more when we can.”
“Oh, my.” Sam held her hands in front of her mouth.
Luke couldn’t find the words and only nodded.
“Um, I see Roxi coming. I’ll let her have her seat back.” Sam stood up, looking unsteady and unnaturally pale after hearing the tragic news.
Roxi sat down and wrapped her arms around Luke. Feeling the tremble in her body, he pulled her in tightly with one arm while he stroked her hair with his other hand.
“Did…did they say a plane crashed? It was hard to hear in the water closet.”
“Yeah. Outside New York near JFK International. Are you OK?”
“I…I don’t like flying, even at the best of times.”
Luke squeezed her, kissing her forehead. “That’s OK. It’s understandable.”
Holding her in his arms, he hummed the melody to the Gaulish lullaby she liked him to sing to her when she felt down. The simple sound seemed to calm her as she clung to him. He didn’t know how long they were supposed to be in the air or how much time had passed since taking off, but landing couldn’t come soon enough.
Behind him, the level of noise picked up as people discussed the snippet of news the pilot had given them. Luke wanted to tell them to be quiet as their speculation, loud enough for Roxi with her supernatural ears to hear, caused her to tremble more. He thought he heard her sniffle. It was confirmed when she rubbed her cheeks with her sleeve. A tear fell onto his arm, running down and falling onto his pants.
“Luke, please don’t stop humming. If you could sing, it would be better, so I’d have something to concentrate on besides…”
“Sure.” Luke kissed the top of her head and started at the beginning of the song, this time with the words.
By now, Roxi had heard it so many times, she knew the melody as well as Luke. It didn’t take her long, not as a trained singer. It had been a skill she’d developed as part of her role as an assassin and spy for her father, the Parthian king’s general, and for the Parthian Empire. It had also provided a valuable skill to allow her to move through society when women weren’t granted much in the way of freedoms. Access to places where people drank allowed her to hunt where vampires preyed.
To focus her mind and distract it from her fear of flying, a fear exacerbated by the news of a plane crash, she played with the simple melody as she hummed along, adding more complex rhythms and tones. While she embellished the song, she made sure her voice enhanced the lyrics Luke sang to her instead of overwhelming them. As he worked his way through the melody, the conversation behind them quieted as people clued in to the music being performed for an audience of two. Yet, Luke didn’t mind them eavesdropping on their private moment. It had caused them to quiet their speculation, which would help Roxi’s anxiety some, he hoped.
He wished she’d told him she was afraid of flying—not that he could have done much about it. The announcement of the tragedy had clearly upset her coping mechanisms, letting the fear push past her point of tolerance.
The next time the pilot broke in over the intercom, his voice carried a tremble. “Folks, um, we’ve just gotten word of another commercial jetliner going down. This one in the air over the Atlantic. We still don’t know much. We’ll be increasing our airspeed to get you on the ground as soon as possible without burning too much fuel. Uh, please buckle up, we’re about to head into some rough air. I’ll give you an update as soon as we know more.”
The second announcement stunned the cabin into silence. The only sounds Luke heard were seatbelts being buckled and someone maneuvering Brutus into his harness.
Roxi shook in Luke’s arms, her breath shallow and ragged. One commercial flight going down was exceedingly rare. Two within minutes of each other was virtually unheard of. Whatever it was, he hoped it wasn’t something interfering with plane electronics or some other environmental disaster that was affecting planes. He wished he knew which way the second plane had been going—west like them, or east.
It didn’t matter; there was little he could do about it. He just hoped they’d get on the ground before anything else happened. Once they were safe from gravity’s retribution, they could plan the next stage of their trip home. He sighed, wondering why nothing he was involved in ever seemed to go off without a hitch. Pushing that thought out of his head, he resumed his humming, starting with one of his favorite Parthian melodies.
* * *
Luke Irontree will return in Ancient Sword Falling.
* * *